mply told. You dress yourself in the most
invisible colours, and, armed with a huge duck-gun--double or single, as
you like--you proceed to your post, which is termed here a "blind." It
is a kind of box, about four feet high, with three sides and no top; a
bench is fixed inside, on which to sit and place your loading gear.
These blinds are fixed in the centre line of the long point, and about
fifty yards apart. One side of the point they call "Bay," and the other
"River." The sportsmen look out carefully from side to side, and the
moment any ducks are seen in motion, the cry is given "bay" or "river,"
according to the side from which they are approaching. Each sportsman,
the moment he "views the ducks," crouches down in his blind as much out
of sight as possible, waiting till they are nearly overhead, then,
rising with his murderous weapon, lets drive at them the moment they
have passed. As they usually fly very high, their thick downy coating
would turn any shots directed against them, on their approach. In this
way, during a favourable day in the early part of the season, a mixed
"file and platoon" firing of glorious _coups de roi_ is kept up
incessantly. We were very unfortunate that evening, as but few ducks
were in motion, and those few passed at so great a height, that,
although the large A.A. rattled against them from a ponderous Purdey
which a friend had lent me, they declined coming down. I had only
succeeded in getting one during my two hours' watching, when darkness
forced me to beat a retreat.

But who shall presume to attempt a description of the luscious birds as
they come in by pairs, "hot and hot?" A dozen of the members of the club
are assembled; a hearty and hospitable welcome greets the stranger--a
welcome so warm that he cannot feel he is a stranger; every face is
radiant with health, every lip moist with appetite; an unmistakeable
fragrance reaches the nostrils--no further summons to the festive scene
is needed. The first and minor act of soup being over, the "smoking
pair" come in, and are placed before the president. In goes the
fork;--gracious! how the juice spouts out. The dry dish swims; one
skilful dash with the knife on each side, the victim is severed in three
parts, streaming with richness, and whetting the appetite to absolute
greediness. But there is an old adage which says, "All is not gold that
glitters." Can this be a deception? The first piece you put in your
mouth, as it melts away o